Advice on a swimming centre under the NEC3 form

Facts

Client: UK contractor

Country: UK

Industry: Construction

Issues

Having already collaborated on a successful tender for a new swimming centre, the client needed to ensure that the subcontracts complied with complex employer requirements. As a high-profile development, the centre was under constant press and public scrutiny, so on-time, on-budget delivery was crucial. Our client had to be confident, therefore, that subcontractors could provide what they promised, and that any problems were resolved promptly.

To tight deadlines, Fenwick Elliott had to develop contract templates based on NEC3 fixed price and target-cost subcontract forms, together with hybrid versions comprising both elements.

Solutions

In drafting the contracts, Fenwick Elliott ensured that the key terms of our client’s agreement with the employer were passed down into the subcontracts. Not only was this a key term of the deal, it also aligned the risk profiles of the subcontractors with our client’s.

After the contracts were prepared, Fenwick Elliott developed training sessions for our client’s project team to ensure the contracts would be administered according to best practice principles. These sessions stressed the need for proactive management, good communication, early warning procedures and possible compensation terms.

Our client received strategic advice on handling insolvencies in the supply chain.

Benefits

Our clients could proceed with the agreement confident that the employer’s amendments to the NEC3 contract were reflected in each subcontract.

Fenwick Elliott’s innovative hybrid pricing structures for several of the packages allowed the client to control costs by capitalising on more competitive bids.

Our client will also reap long-term benefits at project team level from Fenwick Elliott’s NEC training. Exploring different contract structures opens up new possibilities for mutually beneficial working agreements between contractors and employers.